Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology represents an ever-evolving area of the art which enables high-speed wireless access to the Internet or to a company Intranet: Given that the range of such WLAN Access Points is in the order of one hundred (100) meters, such service offerings have traditionally remained limited to discrete locales or ‘hot spots’ beyond the traditional workplace, as the ubiquitous coffee shop, rail stations, airports and so forth.
The prior art teachings in this area remain quite limited in light of the state of the art (and evolution beyond such). Consider, U.S. Patent Application 20020176579 by Deshpande et al., entitled Location-based services using wireless hotspot technology, which provides for a method of providing location-based services to a wireless device using a hotspot access point, comprising: establishing a connection between the wireless device and the hotspot access point; and providing information associated with the physical location of the hotspot access point to the wireless device. However, the application by Deshpande et al. restricts the billing mechanism to one of three modalities—‘business’, ‘public’ or ‘personal’. The invention disclosed herein does not require a given billable service to be characterized or limited to one of the three modalities as explicitly stipulated by Deshpande et al.'s application. Furthermore, Deshpande et al. does not teach or intimate a method whereby the relevant authentication, accounting and charging information is communicated to a centralized authentication or billing server (such as those hosted by macroscopic wireless carriers). In addition, the U.S. Patent Application 20020176579 by Deshpande et al. does not teach or suggest a method whereby the location information affects the billing mechanism associated with the provision of services or capabilities to a given end-user as the case may be.
Further prior art also remain limited in its teachings. Consider U.S. Patent Application 20030051041 by Kalavade et al., according to its title provides for a method and apparatus for integrating billing and authentication functions in local area and wide area wireless data networks. However, Kalavade et al. relies on a non-repudiation scheme whereby the subscriber is required to provide some form of personal data (e.g. their name, an address, a date of birth, and one or more digits of a social security number). The invention disclosed herein does not require the use of personal data for the purpose of non-repudiation. Indeed, while the application by Kalavade et al. indicates that integration with a given ‘backoffice’ server (an HLR) is required, the application does not teach or suggest a method whereby the authentication sequences can be mapped into an appropriate sequence supported by contemporary networks which utilize the EAP, ANSI-41, GSM MAP, RADIUS, or DIAMETER protocols as the case may be. Furthermore, the patent application does not teach or suggest a method whereby alternative methods of payment can by supported (e.g. prepaid vouchers or credit cards).
And still further, International Application 03/032618 filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty by Mellstrand et al., entitled Integration of Billing between Cellular and WLAN Networks, provides a method for integrating a cellular and wlan network for the purpose of billing via a ‘Sign-up Server’. However the application by Mellstrand et al., relies on the use of the GGSN in order to communicate with the HLR for the retrieval of user information and to authenticate the user. The invention disclosed herein does not require the use of the GGSN, nor is the disclosed invention restricted to GSM/GPRS based macroscopic networks. Furthermore, Mellstrand et al.'s application does not teach or suggest a method whereby wlan charges can be accrued against prepaid accounts nor does it intimate a method whereby alternative methods of payment (e.g. prepaid vouchers or credit cards) can by supported for the purpose billing WLAN access and usage.